This disclosure relates in general to cloud-based computer processing and, but not by way of limitation, to indexing and chunking media files for use in media streaming.
The delivery of media over networks such as the Internet can be accomplished in many ways, including progressive downloading or streaming. Streaming is often preferred to progressive downloading because it offers additional features such as content protection and the ability to seek to undownloaded parts of a media file. The process of preparing a media file for streaming typically involves “chunking” the file, or dividing files up into smaller segments for delivery. Information including where chunks may be accessed can be stored in an index file. This index file can be delivered to a client, such as a media player application, for use in streaming.
The processes of chunking and indexing files for streaming present challenges to a content delivery network or content provider desiring to host media files for streaming. For example, a significant amount of preprocessing is required to prepare media for streaming. Media content may be encoded into several different files to accommodate several different sub-streams. Each of these files typically are chunked, stored, and indexed before the media content is available for streaming. This preprocessing leaves little flexibility for dynamically selecting an audio track during streaming and can require a large amount of storage space to store the preprocessed chunks of media.